


Perfect Places

by cleopatras



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Soft Boys, Uma is a hoe who causes harry emotional distress, i love these boys so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 03:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleopatras/pseuds/cleopatras
Summary: Ben has a hiding place, but one night he finds a former pirate there.





	Perfect Places

**Author's Note:**

> rated Teen for cussing bc i have an affinity for profanity

**PERFECT PLACES**

 

Uma, Harry, Gil and their crew were some of the first Isle kids Ben brought over. Both he and his family believed in second chances and he was determined to follow through on that belief this time. Unfortunately, Uma had refused, taking some of her crew with her. On the day kids were being transferred to Auradon Prep, Harry and Gil had been the only ones that crossed the bridge. Ben searched his mind relentlessly as to why she wouldn’t want redemption, but Mal had just assured him it was in her nature.

Then, as if the failure of his plans wasn’t the worse thing that could happen, Mal left him. He should have known, seeing her always linked arm in arm with Evie, always being far closer to her than she had ever been with him. There were no hard feelings, not outward ones, at least. She was happy, that’s what Ben cared about. His reputation as a king with a long and successful life ahead of him was slipping and he had no idea how he was going to fix things.

Ben had taken to escaping. He would often ditch meetings and events just to find somewhere isolated, somewhere he wasn’t under constant stress. He’d found his place under a tree hidden behind the school. The willow tree hung low enough that you wouldn’t know someone was under there unless you were told. Ben found himself under the willow tree far often than he would like to admit, but it was his happy place. 

However, on a particularly stressful night, someone was already there.

“What are you doing here, beastie?” Harry Hook asked with a snarl, picking at painted nails as he did so. When he’d transferred to Auradon, he’d given up the hook, but there was still a pirate in him.

“This is my place,” Ben sighed as the leaves he’d pushed aside to get in fell back into place behind him, “I should be asking you that.”

“Yeah, no.”

“Yeah.”

Harry bit his lip and with a frustrated sigh, said, “How bad was it? Your day?”

“Not gonna lie,” Ben started, running nervous fingers through his hair as he sat down against the trunk of the tree, just far enough from the pirate. “I kind of feel like I’m about to explode.”

“Ugh, you and me both.” Harry didn’t sound happy to have something in common with the king. Ben had never seen this side of him before. What he’d seen when they first met was a bloodthirsty scoundrel with a personal space problem. When he’d first come to Auradon, Ben had seen a hostile being out of its environment, lost. Now, he was seeing someone entirely new. He was seeing the human being underneath everything. It was refreshing, but the context of the revelation was anything but.

Silence fell over for the pair for a minute. Ben, not being one for uncomfortable situations, asked, “Um, w-what about you? What’s got you hiding?”

“This isn’t hiding,” Harry growled, “I keep thinking about  _ her.” _

Something about that statement made Ben’s heart dropped. He knew exactly who Harry was talking about. “Oh.”

“She’s a bitch.” That surprised Ben, he was expecting some scorned, lost-love monologue from Ben, not him mumbling curses about her. Granted, there were different ways to deal with heartbreak, if that’s even what it was. “She takes away my life, turns me into a mindless fool, makes me an extension of herself and then abandons me. It was abuse, toxicity, that’s all it was. Yet my dumb ass thought it was love. God, I was such an idiot.”

“No, no,” something in Ben hated hearing those words, hearing that Harry thought about himself like that. “You didn’t have a choice, you took what you were given and you made something out of it. Sure, she betrayed you in the end, but like, but ya know.”

“You’re not very good at this.”

“Shut up. You know what I mean. I know what the Isle is like, somewhat. It’s either kill or be killed and you were able to get yourself on the winning side. Yeah, it sucks that you didn’t get the girl, but you survived. If you got what you deserved, what you think you deserve, you wouldn’t be here. I know you always wanted to be like your dad, trust me, I do too, but if you were just like him, you’d be the losing party every time.”

“Alright,” Harry pondered for a second, gazing off into the leaves, “that was a, um, a little better.” Ben chuckled. A smile found its way onto his face until he heard the catch in Harry’s throat. 

Ben scooted closer to where Harry was, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and letting the pirate lean on him. “Hey, hey, sorry, I-I didn’t mean to make you sad. That was actually supposed to be motivating.”

“No,” Harry shook his head, bringing a hand up to wipe a tear, “That, that was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, Ben. Thank you.”

“No problem,” Ben was smiling again, they both were. Ben turned to look at Harry, who had lifted his head in an attempt to appear prideful still. The king raised one hand tentatively to the other’s cheek, wiping another stray tear. His hand moved to Harry’s hair, fingers running through the trimmed locks. Silence fell once again, only the sound of shallow breathing.

“If you tell anyone about this —” Harry was cut off by Ben pressing his lips against the pirate’s softly. He froze for a moment, surprised, but his eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into it. He brought his hand up to cup Ben’s cheek softly, leaning into him to the point where Ben had his back completely pressed against the tree trunk. Ben’s fingers ran through his hair, messing it up more than it already was and Harry did the same without even thinking about it. Harry pulled back but rested his forehead against Ben’s. “As I was saying, you tell anyone about this, you’re dead. Got it?”

“Got it,” Ben said with a smile, out of breath with his hair a mess, “but w-we should do this again, right? Or?”

Harry laughed and gave Ben a small kiss in a way to get him to stop talking. “Sure, yeah. We can definitely do this again.”

He leaned in and kissed Ben this time. They were good to keep going until they heard a female voice from outside the leaves.

“Ben?” it was Fairy Godmother, “God, Ben, where did you go? “

“Shit,” Ben mumbled. He gave the pirate one last kiss before standing up, brushing himself off, and leaving the safety of the tree. “Sorry, Fairy Godmother, I’m assuming my parents are looking for me?”

Harry listened from the cover of the tree, laughing to himself at how out of breath Ben sounded. Not to mention the other boy’s hair had still been a mess when he left and anyone with half a brain would know what he had been up to moments ago. He wouldn’t mind having to share his hiding place if it meant more moments like the one that had just taken place.


End file.
